New Hebrides Trench

submarine trench, Pacific Ocean

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Article History

New Hebrides Trench, submarine trench in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, on the periphery of the Coral Sea, between the islands of Vanuatu and New Caledonia. It reaches maximum depths of some 25,000 feet (7,600 metres) or more, the deepest soundings in the whole Coral Sea region. The trench is about 750 miles (1,200 km) long and 45 miles (70 km) wide and covers an area of 32,400 square miles (84,000 square km). The trench curls around the southern end of Vanuatu in a manner suggesting a diagonal symmetry with the northern end of the nearby Tonga Trench. It is an example of a bathymetric feature whose existence was expected from the evidence of the New Hebrides seismic zone; it was first discovered in 1910 by a German naval vessel.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Lorraine Murray.